The Faith He Couldn’t Forget: Youssef’s Journey to Christ in Tunisia
Names, locations, and images have been changed to protect the identity of individuals in sensitive regions.
Youssef first encountered the Gospel through the lives of Christians whose faith he could not forget. Years later, after a long search for truth, their witness would lead him to Jesus Christ. Today, Youssef is no longer simply searching. He is growing as a disciple, sharing what he has discovered, and preparing to help others in his community follow Jesus.
A Faith That Stayed With Him
For many years, Youssef worked in Tunisia’s national security forces. He was married and living in a coastal city when his work eventually took him across the border into Libya.
While there, he developed friendships with Egyptian Coptic Christians. Their faith made a lasting impression on him. He watched the way they lived, listened to what they believed, and saw in them a devotion to Christ that stayed with him long after his assignment ended.
Then came an event that deepened those questions even further.
The martyrdom of 21 Egyptian Coptic Christians in Libya profoundly affected Youssef. Their courage and unwavering faith in the face of death stirred something deep within him. He began asking questions about God, truth, and the Jesus these men had been willing to die for.
Their witness stayed with him.
What Youssef could not have known was that God would use those questions as the beginning of a much longer journey.
“You will seek Me and find Me when you seek Me with all your heart.”
Someone to Walk With Him
Years later, Youssef discovered the social media page of one of our local partner ministries in Tunisia. He reached out, and his message eventually connected him with Hatem, a Tunisian believer and disciple-maker who began walking alongside him.
Hatem is himself part of a growing story of multiplication in Tunisia.
He came into our network through other Tunisian believers whom Compel had already begun training and encouraging. Today, he travels throughout the country, building relationships, responding to spiritual seekers through social media, sharing the Gospel, and helping new believers learn to follow Jesus.
Several times each year, we gather with Hatem and other Tunisian disciple-makers for several days of concentrated training and fellowship. Together, we focus on practical ways to share the Gospel clearly with Muslim friends and neighbors, open Scripture with those who are searching, and help new believers grow into disciples who can make disciples.
But the training is not only about methods.
We also spend time studying Scripture, praying together, encouraging these leaders in their own walk with Christ, and challenging one another to minister from a deep and abiding relationship with Jesus.
That is the kind of disciple-maker God brought into Youssef’s life.
Hatem did not rush him toward a decision. He listened to Youssef’s questions, opened the Scriptures with him, and patiently helped him discover what the Bible says about Jesus.
Over time, the questions that had begun years earlier in Libya found their answer.
Youssef placed his faith in Jesus Christ.
The Gospel Enters a Home
But the Gospel did not stop with him.
As Youssef began growing as a disciple, he shared what he was learning with his wife. The truths that were transforming him began entering their home through conversations, Scripture, and the ongoing discipleship he was receiving from Hatem.
In time, his wife also placed her faith in Christ.
Earlier this year, Hatem and another Tunisian leader, Nabil, stood with Youssef as he took another significant step of obedience. In the waters along Tunisia’s coast, Youssef was baptized, publicly declaring the faith he had once spent years searching to understand.
The man who had once been deeply affected by the courageous witness of other Christians was now publicly identifying himself as a follower of Jesus.
And God is continuing the story.
From Disciple to Disciple-Maker
Youssef is well respected in his community and has relationships with many people around him. He is becoming a person of peace—someone whose reputation, relationships, and influence can open doors for the Gospel to move naturally through families, friendships, and existing community networks.
In the coming months, Youssef will join one of our disciple-maker training gatherings in Tunisia. There, he will continue learning how to share his faith, help others discover Jesus through Scripture, and make disciples who can eventually do the same with others.
There is something powerful about the way God has woven Youssef’s story together.
Years ago, he witnessed the faith of Christians in Libya.
Their testimony caused him to search.
That search eventually connected him with a Tunisian disciple-maker who patiently walked with him through Scripture.
What Youssef received, he shared with his wife.
And now, the man who was once searching for someone to help him understand Jesus is preparing to help others discover and follow Him.
This Is What Compel Is About
Youssef’s story reflects the heart of what we believe God has called Compel International to do.
We believe the Church where it exists can plant the Church where it does not exist. Often, that begins by identifying and walking alongside local believers like Hatem—men and women with a burden for their own people, relational access to communities outsiders may never reach, and a willingness to carry the Gospel into places where there is little or no established Christian witness.
Our role is not to replace them.
It is to find them, equip them, encourage them, become their friends, and walk faithfully beside them as they go to their own neighbors, families, cities, and communities with the Gospel.
Then, as people like Youssef come to faith, the process begins again.
A disciple becomes a disciple-maker.
The person who was reached becomes the one who reaches others.
And, by God’s grace, the Gospel moves from one relationship to another until new communities of believers begin to take root where the Church did not exist before.
Youssef’s story is still being written. But what began with the faithful witness of Christians he could not forget is now becoming a new witness through his own life.
Prayer Points
Pray that Youssef and his wife will continue to grow deeply in their relationship with Christ and in their understanding of His Word.
Pray especially that Youssef’s wife will be strengthened and firmly established in her faith.
Pray for God’s protection, wisdom, courage, and spiritual maturity over their family.
Pray for Youssef as he participates in the upcoming disciple-maker training and learns to help others follow Jesus.
Pray for Hatem and the other Tunisian disciple-makers who are faithfully sharing the Gospel and walking alongside spiritual seekers throughout the country.
Pray that God will use Youssef’s relationships to open doors for the Gospel in his community and beyond.
Pray that his testimony will become the beginning of many more stories of disciples making disciples and churches multiplying throughout Tunisia.